


You Can Choose Your Family

by mggislife2789 (dontshootmespence)



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Death, Father-Daughter Relationship, Murder, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-12-02 00:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20942246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontshootmespence/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: When Y/N is left without a family after a devastating case, Rossi takes her in. Years later, when Joy finds her way back into her father’s life, how will Y/N handle it?Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	You Can Choose Your Family

Seven years earlier  
\----

This couldn’t be real. 

You’d been punched in the chest. 

No matter how deeply you breathed, you couldn’t find relief.

Every word uttered from someone’s mouth turned into a whisper on the wind, barely heard, barely comprehended. 

“No, it’s not possible.” You broke down, eyes welling up with tears in an instant. Your entire life, gone. You inhaled sharply, words choked out in an attempt to breathe - find relief from this immediate unbearable pain. “They can’t be gone.”

The young agent’s eyes filled up, his lip trembling as he spoke the words again. “I’m sorry, Y/N. Your parents didn’t make it.”

“No! No! No!” You screamed and screamed and screamed, flailing against the nurses and doctors that came to your aide. A blood-curdling scream ripped from your throat, heard by nearly everyone on the hospital floor. 

Agent Rossi came rushing in, pulling the younger man out of the way as he appealed to you. “Y/N, Y/N, calm down!” Pushing the doctor aside, he wrapped his arms around you and let you scream into his chest. “I’m going to find the people who did this,” he whispered softly. “Y/N, I promise I won’t rest until I find them.” 

\-----

Present Day  
\----

“Wait, what?” You laughed nervously.

It had been seven years since Rossi had taken you in at the age of 13. For some reason, you’d trusted him implicitly and when he’d expressed an interest in adopting you a year after your parents’ death you’d accepted enthusiastically. 

Just as he’d promised, he caught the couple that killed your parents and now they were rotting in jail. While he wasn’t a replacement, Rossi had become a father in every way that counted. He was gone frequently, but you still felt the love. Whenever he was home, you did everything together, from cooking to golfing to passing judgement on others - a national pastime. “What do you mean you have a daughter?”

“Remember that girl I told you about that accosted me at work? Her name was Joy and she claimed she was my daughter...turns out...that’s true.”

That punched in the chest feeling returned. It hadn’t since the fifth anniversary of your parents’ death, but here it was again, hard, heavy and immovable. “How old is she?” You asked, doing the best you could to mask the feeling of replacement that washed over your entire body.

“She’s 27. She has a husband and a son, named Kai. You remember me telling you about Hayden? She’s her mother.”

“Wow.” It was the only thing you could think to say. Why would he need you when he had a true born daughter? “How do you feel?” You hoped beyond hope that there would be a moment that you could naturally bow out of the conversation to go to your room and cry yourself to sleep. 

“A lot of things. I mean, it’s great. She seems like a wonderful girl. But it just came out of nowhere. I’m also angry at Hayden for keeping her from me. All the years I lost out on, you know?”

“Yea. Just take some time to process it, I guess.” Whether you were talking to him or yourself you weren’t sure. “You okay if I go do some homework?”

Distractedly, he replied, leaving you the moment to run. The moment you got into your room, you choked out a sob, covering your mouth so he wouldn’t hear. 

\-----

Yet again, you were home alone while your makeshift father met with his real daughter. He’d only met with her a few times, but each time he went, your heart sunk. You didn’t go away to college, preferring to stay home with him, but that meant you had nowhere else to go. 

The smile on his face when he spoke of her, spoke of his grandson especially, it was like a knife twisting in your heart. You dared not take it out lest you bleed out. 

For hours and hours, you attempted to study, but you kept getting distracted. When you heard the lock in the door downstairs, you popped up from your bed and rushed downstairs. Maybe she would end up being a horrible person and he’d want nothing to do with her. As you rounded the corner, you saw the smile on his face and the picture in his hand. From far away, you could tell it was Joy and Kai.

Unwelcomed tears returned and you attempted to run back up the stairs when he called you. “Y/N? I’m home. How’re you? Have you had dinner yet?”

“No, not yet,” you said shakily, your attempts at disguising tears failing miserably. “Not really hungry.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked. “You’re crying.” 

He could hear it.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m good.”

“No you’re not. Did that boy do something to you? I swear I’ll kill him.”

You choked back a laugh. “No, he didn’t. Everything’s good, Pop. I swear.”

As you made your way up the stairs, you heard his footsteps behind you and felt his hand on your arm. “You are crying. Why? What happened? You know you can tell me.”

He still had the picture in his hand. You chanced a glance, confirming what you already knew. His new family. His real family. Once more, you insisted everything was fine.

Suddenly, the realization dawned on him. “It’s Joy, isn’t it?” He asked, horrified. “You think she’s replacing you.”

“She is, isn’t she?” You asked, tired of keeping the tears at bay. “She’s your real daughter. I’m just some girl you felt sorry for after her parents were brutally murdered.”

“No,” he said on the verge of tears himself. “You’re the daughter I chose. Against every worry I had about being a father, not being able to be there enough for you while I work. Against it all, I chose you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Joy found me and one day I’m sure I’ll end up feeling like her father, but right now I don’t. That’s why I’m trying to get to know her. So that one day I’ll be able to dote on two daughters instead of one.” The pool of tears fell down his cheeks as he pulled you close and you cried into his shoulder. “People say you can’t choose your family. Well, that’s bullshit.”

“You sound like Spencer,” you laughed. “Like a mix of you and Spencer.”

Pulling you back from his shoulder, he cradled your face in his hands, wiping your tears away with the pads of his thumbs. “I did choose my family. And the addition of someone else doesn’t take away from that. She may be older, but you’ll always be my first girl. No matter what.”

“You sure?” You laughed.

“Absolutely. You’re my girl. Now, you wanna cook dinner together?”

“Baked ziti?”

“Sounds great to me.”


End file.
